Not Good Enough Heroes of Olympus
by Jimme de Bob
Summary: What can you do when your good isn't good enough? Nico di Angelo
1. Chapter 1

No. This isn't where I wanted to be! No! She said he'd be here- she said he'd be here plain as day! All I could see was a large dark hole surrounded with trees and debris blowing into the endless pit.  
I let out an irritated growl. Where was he? I stomped my foot in anger and crossed my arms. Great. Just great! That idiotic goddess lied to me! Ugh, why did I even listen to her? Oh, yeah! I was desperate to find my boyfriend, that's why! He'd gone to find the Doors of Death and never came back!  
The earth goddess, Gaea, told me he'd be here. I know, I know. I was so incredibly stupid to listen to her, but I was also so incredibly desperate. My boyfriend was Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. He left me one day, saying he had to look for the Doors in the Underworld. I told him it was a bad idea. "Oh," he'd said. "I'll be fine," he'd said. "I won't get hurt- I can go anywhere in the Underworld. My dad's the king!"  
Yeah, screw Nico's dad. Screw Nico! He left me with no one but my cousin, Percy, and my half-brother, Jason. But that's not even considering the fact that they were in a whole other camp for half-bloods!  
That stupid, _stupid_ boy. He was _so_ going to pay. (We were talking about Nico . . . )  
Now I knew what my friend, Annabeth, was probably thinking when Percy disappeared. She probably went out of her mind with worry, like me. I bent down in the dead grass and put my face in my hands. I shook my head. I never cried. Well, of course, if you really wanna get specific and ask "what about when you were a baby? A toddler?" Yes, I cried then. But ever since I finally got control over my emotions when I was about 8, I hadn't cried.  
And I wasn't going to start now.  
I forced my hands away from my face. I dug my fingernails into the earth, trying so hard not to break down in sobs. I tried to keep my breathing under control. Breathe in (one, two, three seconds), breathe out. Again, and again I did this.  
I stood up.  
"Pull yourself together, Sky," I told myself. "Crying won't make him come back. It'll just wear you out so you can't look for him!"  
I took in a deep, shaky breath. _We should probably make our way back to the Argo II, don't you think?_ I thought to myself. In this time of loneliness, my only friend was myself. If even that.  
Everyone else: my brother, Jason Grace, his girlfriend, Piper McLean, my best friend, Hazel Levesque, my other best friend, Leo the Awesome Valdez, Frank Zhang (Hazel's boyfriend, I think), Annabeth, my third best friend, and even Percy, my cousin. I had pushed away when they tried to help me. That was one of the worse mistakes I'd ever made.  
I stood up, brushing the dead grass and dirt off my jean shorts. As I did this, I heard something beneath me crack. I froze. Regaining my courage, I bent down as slowly as possible on my hands and knees, and checked how far down the fall would be. I couldn't see anything, though. My backpack! I thought. I gently reached behind me, resulting in a few more cracks beneath my knees, but I didn't stop. Once my red and gray L.L Bean backpack was safely in my arms, I dug out one of those glow sticks. I cracked it and it immediately started to brighten a glow worm green. I cautiously dropped it into the nearest crack I could find.  
The glowstick tumbled down the hole and I leaned forward to see it fall for another minute or two. Then it was out of sight. I straightened my back. Apparently, it was a very, very long fall.  
Two minutes later, when I was trying to figure how to get off this stupid island I had been trapped on, I heard a very faint_boom!_. There was a feeling in my gut that told me it was the glowstick.  
I cursed silently, which isn't something I do normally. Actually, it's extremely rare.  
There was a loud rumbling from underground, which at first I mistook it for thunder. But that wasn't possible, I reasoned. Thunder only comes when my father is or I am angry. Anyway, I dismissed the thought. The loud rumbling appeared again, but worse. The floor below my feet rumbled and I had trouble keeping myself balanced.  
There was one time when it shook so hard, I almost took a little tumble off the platform I was standing on. I sat back down, digging through my backpack. I had to try to get ahold of someone, but I had to do it quickly. Was there a way to Iris Message my friends even though it was cloudy? I had a phone- maybe I could call Piper. She kept her phone on her most of the time, even though she didn't use it. But that was my last resort.  
I prayed to my father and Iris to help me with an IM. I quickly summoned a large, spitting blast of water and hoped the sun would shine. It did. I grinned and a misty rainbow appeared in front of me. I dug a drachma out of my pocket and tossed it into the rainbow.  
"O, Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering- Oh, you too, Fleecy." I thought about Jason's face. I noticed the flittering image appearing through the rainbow. I could see my half-brother Jason's face. Only . . . he was kissing my friend, Piper. I scrunched up my nose and watched for a few seconds. I couldn't take it anymore. I cleared my throat.  
Jason and Piper jumped apart. They looked at me and gasped.  
"Sky!" Piper exclaimed. "Where are you? You were supposed to meet us an hour ago!"  
I sighed. "Good to see you, too. Listen, I'm trapped, okay? I can't get out. Can you send, like, Frank or someone to get me out of here?"  
"Yeah! Sure! But . . . why Frank? Where are you? Did you find . . . did you find _him_?"  
I shook my head. "I didn't, no. And I said Frank because he can turn into an eagle and come get me. I'm not too far away, actually. Just about 10 miles away from where we were last."

"Okay, well, I have to tell you something," Piper said. "Um, Frank, Hazel, and Leo are gone right now. Jason, Percy, and I are gonna go look for, you know, Nico."  
I cringed when she said my boyfriend's name. Piper sighed sadly and muttered something about picking me up. Jason started to speak.  
"Hey, sis," Jason said. "I can come get you."  
I nodded. See, Jason could control lightning and the airwaves. I could control the rain, clouds, lightning, thunder, hail, and all that jazz. Actually, if I tried really hard, I could make it snow. But I couldn't fly. I could never fly. I'd tried once by jumping off a cliff. Jason had to come save me along with Frank.  
"Okay," I said. Just then, a heavy rumbling started. It was worse than the others. I gasped and lost my footing.  
"SKY!" Jason and Piper screamed. I looked at them during the last seconds of our connection.  
"Listen! If you can save him, which I know you will, tell Nico I love him. I love you, too, Jason, and tell Percy I love him. Piper, good luck with my brother. Goodbye."  
The connection broke with Piper in tears, screaming my name, and Jason clawing frantically at the mist, as though to reach out and save me. I fell on the small platform. I shouldered my bag right before the shaking threw me over the edge and into the large chasm.

OLLO! Hey, guys! Tell me if you like the story. It takes place in the late Mark of Athena and will go into The House of Hades (which, hopefully, I can guess what'll happen since I've been told it hasn't come out yet . . . ) . Okay? Thank you!  
~Danie 3


	2. Chapter 2

Please don't cry, I begged myself. Please, please, please . . .  
I was tumbling down the large chasm in which I was thrown in. My head and back hit sharp rocks, tree roots, etc. I was in so much pain, I couldn't move. All I could do was beg myself not to cry.  
A piece of falling rock nailed me in the back of my head.  
"Ah!" I cried out. Lights danced angrily in my vision. I clutched my head protectively. I knew I would be landing eventually. It would be very hard. I sucked up the pain that was practically paralyzing me. I had to get my parachute out. It was a small one, but it would do. After all, this was a life or death.  
Removing the bag from my shoulders and jerked on my parachute with difficulty. I attached it to my belt holder on my dark, denim skinny jeans which were now ripped badly from the fall. My red sweater was rising up my stomach and I had to keep pulling it down. I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my arm, which left me gasping back a scream. I glanced down. My arm had a huge gash in it. I could see something hard and white. Oh, gosh . . . the bone. I felt like I was gonna be sick- but I couldn't take the risk of throwing up. If I did that, it would just land on my face. I cursed myself. I should've just pulled my red sweater sleeves down. Stupid me. (XX)  
I whimpered and tried so hard not to focus on my arm. I pulled a knife out of my wool fingerless gloves and started to pick at the string, trying to get the parachute going. The knife dropped out of my hand from the sudden air pressure change. I could see it dropping. Five seconds later, it clattered. Oh, shoot.  
I quickly released the string of my parachute.  
Right on time, too. I landed to the ground with a heavy thud, but not nearly as bad as it would be without this amazing chute. But I did bust up my knee pretty bad, resulting in a scream. I backed up toward the chasm wall. I noticed the glow a few feet away from me. It was still glowing bright.  
I chuckled and shook my head. I cradled my arm against my stomach and cautiously looked down at my knee. I almost lost it and barfed.  
My knee was soaked in blood. I could see muscle and the bone as clear as day- although, I couldn't see the daylight down here in this chasm.  
I had no clue how to get out of this place. Obviously, I couldn't just climb back up. It took me about 10 minutes to fall down, it would take me probably 10 days to go back up. And I couldn't climb with these injuries.  
There was a large stick in the middle of the chasm. Hmm . . . maybe I could use it to walk!  
And using to walk is exactly what I did.  
I took one slow step at a time, holding back tears each time I put pressure on my leg. My arm burned with fire and my leg was being eaten alive by poisonous Greek fire. My leg was worse than my arm- probably because I didn't need to use my arm too much, considering the fact it was my left arm.  
Finally, after what seemed like a million forevers and tons of pain, I managed to stumble upon a room. I noticed something odd about it, though. In a corner (A/N: Sorry, people! I can't necessarily remember what this place looked like, and I'm too lazy to go upstairs and get my book!) was a large bronze jar so big a person could fit in, and a large see-through pearl. The pearl was so big and beautiful I thought I could fit in it. I looked around. I sighed and limped toward the large objects on my walking stick. I was fingering my paintbrush, which was in my pocket- a gift from my dad. He's Zeus, by the way. The paintbrush could turn into anything I wanted. If I flicked my wrist thinking "Sword!" then it would transform into a sword. If I flicked my wrist thinking "Dagger" or "Cat" or "Chimichanga" then it would turn into one.  
I was thinking about busting out a sword, when I heard voices. Yup, I'm getting the sword out.  
"Sword!" I hissed, removing the paintbrush from my pocket. It suddenly felt heavier and grew longer. But it wasn't Celestial Bronze, nor was it Imperial Gold. It was Celestial Gold. Let me guess, you haven't heard of it? If you have, you're special. If you haven't, I don't blame you. It's the rarest form of a godly metal ever. There's only one other like it in the world- mortal and godly.  
It was made to scare away every monster and to defend those who need it. But when Zeus gave it to me, it changed to fit my needs.

The blade glinted a mixture of gold and silver- there was even a little bit of a blue glow. The handle had a large blue sapphire on one side, and on the other, it was a ruby. The blade had the sentence "Εξουσία για εκείνους που τη χρειάζονται" engraved in it. The engraving read "Power to those who need it."

The staff I was using was hard to control with my bad arm, but I couldn't let go of it. If I did, I wouldn't be able to walk. I finally reached the bronze jar and tapped on it. Nothing. I sighed, then the voices started up again.  
"Otis! I told you not to be the circus director today! You're supposed to be the lifeguard!"  
I jumped (that's not something I recommend if you have a bad leg . . . ) and turned around. I noticed two giants arguing in a cave. Only, they were small giants. They were both about 12 feet tall- a normal height for a Cyclops, but they had two eyes- and had snakes for legs. Oh, that was disturbing, all right. Thankfully, the legs were covered by black and white pinstriped pants. One had purple hair, braided in gold and silver coins and had a spear tapped to his back. There was another one who looked identical, except for the fact he had long green hair instead of purple.

They didn't look like normal giants- they looked like huge, ugly humans. But I knew in my gut they were giants. I knew them, too. Ephialtes and Otis. They were twins.

The one who I guessed was Ephialtes because he called the other one Otis had a yellow circus shirt on with a red ball covering his nose. He looked like an ugly Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

The twins started arguing and I got the feeling they had no clue I was here. Let's keep it that way, I thought. I dug silently in my bag for ambrosia and nectar. When I came across a Ziploc which had the ambrosia, I ate a few pieces before sipping down some nectar. I tasted . . . Oh, gosh. I tasted the pizza Nico and I used to make before he left in search of the Doors. I remembered playing around, throwing dough at each other, eating the pepperonis before Nico got a chance to put them on the pizza. Oh, those were the good old days.  
I swallowed the last bit of Nectar down, and immediately felt more powerful. My cuts had started healing, pulling themselves together. I watched as my muscle covered up my bones, and the skin scabbed over a little. Sure, it still looked horrible, but not as bad as it used to.

I sighed in relief. Oh, that was a big mistake.

Ephialtes and Otis looked over to me.

"Ooh!" Otis cried happily. "We have a girl! We have a girl!"  
I scoffed. "No, you don't 'have a girl!' I just came here looking for my boyfriend. Know where he is?"  
Okay, I know it sounds stupid, talking to Otis as if we were friends. But maybe then I could get directions and find Nico. Maybe.  
But right when Otis was about to reply, Ephy spoke up. "We've been waiting for you, Sky Blue."  
My eyes widened. "What? What're you talking about? I just fell down a cliff and came here!"  
"Exactly," Ephy said. "The Earth Mother made that happen. You are her little pawn. She is the queen."  
I scoffed at the exact time Otis cried out, "Oh! Can I be the knight? I wanna be a knight, Big F!"  
Whoa, Big F? Now, I'd heard of the BFG, Big Friendly Giant, but I didn't think it was Ephy!  
"Shut up, Otis! Now, as I was saying, we can do this the easy way or the hard way!" Ephy threw his hands on his hips and looked at me expectantly.  
"Um," I said. "You never told me we could do this the easy way or the hard way . . . "  
"Fine!" Ephy said, "The hard way it is!"  
He swooped down and tried to grab me with those creepy sausage fingers, but I dodged (painfully, I might add). He scoffed and came at me again.  
"What do you want?!" I dodged again. Then I sliced at his hand with my sword. He screamed.  
"Big F!" Otis yelled. He came at me and I rolled my eyes. I moved out of the way and sliced at his ankle tendon. He squeaked and fell to the floor.  
Ephy growled in anger. "We just need you to get inside the pearl!"  
I shook my head. "Uh, why would I do that?"  
Ephy gave a creepy, cold, dark chuckle. "If you want to spare your lover's life, you'll do it."  
My lover? Nico couldn't be here, could he?  
Then I began to think of the prophecy . . . _Twins snuff out the angel's breath._  
Nico di Angelo. Angel. Nico's last name means Angel! Twins . . . the twins in front of me. They . . .  
Fury burned so bright in my veins, the whole world probably saw my anger. I growled at them, a deep and threatening sound. It was so frightening, I scared myself. But not as much as I scared the twins. They jumped back and started stumbling around.  
"What did you do to him?!" I screeched. "WHERE IS HE?! TELL ME RIGHT NOW OR I'LL KILL YOU BOTH!"  
Otis looked so scared, he was probably peeing his pants. That would explain the wetness dripping down his leg . . .  
But Ephy didn't look as startled. He just chuckled and pointed to the bronze jar.  
I looked at them and then back at the jar. I ran toward it as fast as I could on my bad leg.  
"Ah, ah, ah!" Ephy said, wagging his finger back and forth. "You need to do what I say first."  
I shook my head and ran faster. I jumped on the jar and thought "Two daggers!" My sword dissolved into a dagger in my right hand, and in my left, there was another.  
I used them to climb up the large jar. Finally, I could see a small hole- the size a toddler could maybe climb through. I looked inside.  
And there, inside the hole, I could see a curled up figure. Pale as death, hair dark as night. So thin . . . oh, so thin.  
I knew right away that it was my boyfriend, Nico di Angelo.


End file.
